Source: afp/france24 AFP - Secret police agents abducted and beat award-winning blogger Yoani Sanchez, whose online reports chronicle the dark side of everyday life in communist Cuba, on her way to a march for non-violence, she said Saturday. Three agents in street clothes snatched her and friend Orlando Luis Pardo off the street in the Havana district of Vedado. "They beat me and then they shoved me into a car head first. They did not give me any explanation at any time, but it is clear thei...

"Teenage adventurer Jessica Watson will begin her solo round-the-world sailing attempt this Sunday, after days of delays caused by Sydney's recent windy weather. The 16-year-old will sail through Sydney Heads at 9.30am (AEDT) in her yacht Ella's Pink Lady, with well-wishers expected to throng the harbour and its foreshore to send her off. Her departure has been delayed by strong winds that have battered Sydney in recent days. ... Jessica is attempting to become the youngest person to sail solo...

Source: bbc Elinor Ostrom has become the first woman to win the Nobel prize for econoiics, since it began in 1969. Ms Ostrom won the prize with fellow American Oliver Williamson for the pair's work on the organisation of co-operation in economic governance. The Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences is the last of the six Nobel prizes announced this year. Easily the most high-profile was US President Barack Obama winning the Nobel Peace Prize. Read more: (Link) great news. congratu...

Source: AP / yahoo news BUENOS AIRES, Argentina – Argentina's Senate overwhelmingly approved a law that will transform the nation's media landscape on Saturday, and President Cristina Fernandez quickly signed it into law. Senators voted by a surprisingly high 44-24 margin for the law, celebrating the end of dictatorship-era rules that enabled a few companies to dominate Argentine media. Opponents say it instead gives the government too much power and will curtail freedom of speech. The new la...

Source: bbc Italy's highest court has overturned a law granting Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi immunity from prosecution while in office, local media report. The Constitutional Court was said to have annulled the law, which had let him withdraw from several cases. In one he was facing corruption charges. The law was passed soon after Mr Berlusconi came to power last year. Opponents say the granting of immunity violates the principle that all citizens are equal before the law. Read mor...

Lovers of France's two great symbols of cultural exception – its haute cuisine and fine art – are aghast at plans to open a McDonald's restaurant and McCafé in the Louvre museum next month. America's fast food temple is celebrating its 30th anniversary in France with a coup -the opening of its 1,142nd Gallic outlet a few yards from the entrance to the country's Mecca of high art and the world's most visited museum. (Link) even the expression, "restaurant" does not fit the brand. and the sme...

Source: bbc Argentine folk singer and activist Mercedes Sosa has died aged 74 after suffering kidney problems. Sosa's popularity in Latin America spanned four decades, but she fell foul of the Argentine junta in the 1970s. Her latest album has been nominated for three Latin Grammy awards, which are due to be announced in November. Dubbed "the voice of the silent majority", Sosa was credited with championing the poor and fighting for political change. Read more: (Link) voice of the voi...

Source: bbc The last surviving leader of the 1943 Warsaw ghetto uprising against the Nazis, Marek Edelman, has died at the age of 90. The uprising - triggered by the Nazis' decision to send residents to concentration camps - lasted three weeks before it was crushed. Mr Edelman, then 23, was one of 200 young Jews who fought German troops. His friend, Paula Sawicka, told the Associated Press that he died "at home, among friends". Read more: (Link) rip (Image)

Source: bbc The French government has dropped its public support for Roman Polanski, saying the 76-year-old director "is neither above nor beneath the law". The move follows a backlash against a campaign for Polanski's release, with several leading European politicians and cultural figures refusing to join. ... On Monday, the French foreign minister called for Polanski to be freed. Read more: (Link) ooops...

Source: reuters/yahoo WASHINGTON (Reuters) – The U.S. Food and Drug Administration took its first steps to rein in the tobacco industry on Tuesday, implementing a ban on candy, clove and other flavored cigarettes. The move, required by a law passed earlier this year giving the FDA greater power over tobacco products, aims to help prevent children and teenagers from smoking. "Candy and fruit flavored cigarettes are a gateway for many children and young adults to become regular tobacco users," ...

Source: bbc Havana is preparing for the biggest open air concert since the 1959 revolution, featuring some 15 top Latin American, Spanish and Cuban performers. Hundreds of thousands of Cubans are expected to attend the concert in Revolution Square in Havana. Colombian singer Juanes, who has organised the event, has received death threats from Cuban-American opponents of the regime in Miami. ... During a break in rehearsals, Juanes said the show was about peace and tolerance, not politics. ...

Source: bbc After a long struggle, on Tuesday, the German parliament revoked the convictions of the last group of victims, those condemned as "war traitors," more than 60 years after the end of World War II. Ludwig Baumann joined Hitler's Wehrmacht when he was 19, but he became a pacifist and in June 1942, he deserted, along with his friend Kurt Oldenburg, while they were deployed in France. "I didn't want to take part in Hitler's war," Ludwig Baumann told the BBC. "I realised it was a cr...

...but have to sell their soul to the majors and hollywood. a bit at least ;) (Image) beautiful article on the NYT about this danish company that had to re-invent itself in the contemporary market. "While that may be true of Lego’s toys, until recently it was hardly the case for Lego’s bottom line. But five years after a near-death experience, Lego has emerged as an unlikely winner in an industry threatened by the likes of video games, iPods, the Internet and other digital diversions. Even a...

"The car maker is developing three models: a sedan, a compact city car and a panel van. In Denmark, a car will cost up to 200,000 kroner (£23,080) to buy. "Around 160,000 electric cars will be made available every year. I believe the sales will be in the tens of thousands," said Jens Moberg, the chief executive of Better Place Denmark, the Danish subsidiary of the transport company developing the lithium batteries fitted in the vehicles. Electric car drivers will need to sign up for a monthly...

beautiful really. (Link) happy b-day, woodstock.

pirate mariachi rocker poet, among the big ones. one of my fav. goodbye you great one - enjoy, wherever u are. demasiado corazon. (Link) (Image)

"Bolivia has become the first country in the history of South America to declare the right of indigenous people to govern themselves. The country's first indigenous president, Evo Morales, launched his so-called "indigenous autonomy" policy in the eastern lowlands." referenda on more autonomy are planned next december. source: (Link) something's on the move.

Source: bbc A Roman Catholic bank in Germany has apologised after admitting it bought stocks in defence, tobacco and birth control companies. Der Spiegel newspaper discovered the bank had invested 580,000 euros (£495,310, $826,674) in British arms company BAE Systems. It also invested 160,000 euros in American birth control pill maker Wyeth and 870,000 euros in tobacco companies. The bank apologised for behaviour "not in keeping with ethical standards". Read more: (Link) oooooooooooop...

here we go again. "Italy's drug regulation agency has approved the use of the abortion pill RU486, also known as mifepristone, prompting protests from the Vatican. The Italian Pharmaceuticals Agency (AIFA) ruled late on Thursday that the drug would not be sold in pharmacies and only be administered by doctors. ... On Thursday, the Vatican said it would excommunicate doctors who prescribed the drug and patients who used it. "First abortion was legalised to stop it being clandestine, but no...

"There is little difference in nutritional value and no evidence of any extra health benefits from eating organic produce, UK researchers found. The Food Standards Agency who commissioned the report said the findings would help people make an "informed choice". ... Among the 55 of 162 studies that were included in the final analysis, there were a small number of differences in nutrition between organic and conventionally produced food but not large enough to be of any public health relevance,...

"Scientists in Japan are reporting the first scientific evidence that inhaling certain fragrances alter gene activity and blood chemistry in ways that can reduce stress levels. Their study appears in ACS' Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry, a bi-weekly publication." looks like inhaling linalool, "a naturally-occurring terpene alcohol chemical found in many flowers and spice plants with many commercial applications, the majority of which are based on its pleasant scent (floral, with a to...

...and lose personal freedom, plant and factory, perspective of life and crumbles of dreams - what the hell is happening to leftist parties and unions, where's their power of representation, their fight for social justice? i just posted an update on the french workers who threatened to explode gas canisters at their plant. find it here: (Link) so i do not go to the news details. just a comment. "The BBC's Emma Jane Kirby in Paris says there is an acute sense of injustice in France at the mome...

Source: bbc A US construction equipment firm has agreed to pay extra compensation to French workers who had threatened to explode gas canisters at their plant. Staff at JLG Industries in Tonneins, south-western France, made the threat in order to get better redundancy terms for 53 workers. ... Elsewhere, French workers have taken managers hostage in "boss-nappings". Read more: (Link) this is from france24/reuters: '"It's a shame that we reached this point. If management had wanted, we co...

i just read an article on the BBC website, about a german family with a single working mother and two children. "Across Germany, one in six children live in "relative poverty", which means in families whose monthly income is 60% or less of the national average." (source: BBC, "German children blighted by poverty", (Link) ) the situation is no better in UK, in the USA or in italy, as to that. in italy more than 7,5 millions people live in poverty, 12,8% population (2,5 million people living in ...

Source: afp / france24 AFP - French youths burned 317 cars and wounded 13 police officers overnight during the now traditional bout of street violence on the eve of the Bastille Day national holiday, police said Tuesday. As French troops and their guests of honour from the Indian army made last minute preparations for the July 14 parade on the Champs Elysees in Paris, the suburbs of major cities were contemplating another clean-up operation. ... Today, disaffected youths from bleak sub...

"Since the spread of the pandemic virus is considered unstoppable, vaccine will be needed in all countries. SAGE emphasized the importance of striving to achieve equity among countries to access vaccines developed in response to the pandemic (H1N1) 2009" (source: WHO, see links below) not exactly what i expected when i first came to know about it. countries have been undervaluing this - or it is simply that they were taken by surprise? summer vacations and events won't help this, of course. s...

...since everybody's free and democratic here, there'll be no problem for the UNrecommending DUer to state his nickname and opinion publicly. it might be interesting for the bloggers to discuss why he/she does or does not recommend a thread. and it would sooth some bitterness that this new feature is causing, as far as i read in the threads. democracy likes the lights, not the shadows - and i seem to notice how DUers who recommend often state it - while unrecommending ones do not. haven't se...

...and differently from G8 leaders, he met real people, the ones who live in the tents. just to have a first-hand experience of what it feels like. he was there with bill murray and former DP leader veltroni, and visited the tent-camp of S.Eusanio first, a place i know - i lived one year in L'Aquila, in 1994 - a middle-age little town, very beautiful. it was. then he visited L'Aquila, where he almost was to get in touch with the "Yes We Camp" groups. he visited the closed area of the city cent...

i'd have, but i keep for me. :) considering that the most successful campaigns ever range from cars to tobacco to drinks to luxury - whatever they choose to advertise, they will find themselves contradicting their (almost) daily reprimenda on our western consumistic and degraded lifestyle. anyway, this is the news - if u have not already had it: "Vatican Radio - the voice of the Roman Catholic Church - is starting to air advertisements for the first time in the station's nearly 80-year histor...

let's see. for the G8 guests: a little army of chefs, twenty Parma hams already delivered, and every sort of meats and cold cuts from the abruzzo traditional places, spaghetti rigatoni and fusilli - the good pasta abruzzese, tons of red montepulciano wine bottles, and more food. and then moquette all over the floors. and a code by Leonardo da Vinci and a 1566 violin plus the "Tosca" original music paper by Puccini will be exhibited to the guests of this event. some rumours about a little bas...